Footage emerges of the 'banished' Arsenal players training separately from the first team

Footage has emerged of three 'banished' Arsenal players training separately from the first team squad.

Mikel Arteta has reportedly 'banished' seven players from first team training, having spent big during the summer transfer window.

The club recruited Declan Rice, Kai Havertz and Jurrien Timber for a combined fee of over £200 million

But Arteta has struggled to offload players deemed surplus to requirements, with the transfer deadline approaching.

Ahead of the window slamming shut, it is believed that seven players are training away from the first team.

Nicolas Pepe, Nuno Tavares and Albert Sambi Lokonga are among those 'banished', with a video of them training separately surfacing on social media.

Pepe, who joined the Emirates outfit for £72 million in 2019, shared a clip on Snapchat of him, Tavares and Lokonga training at the club's gym.

The footage shows Lokonga lifting weights and Tavares interacting with the Ivory Coast winger.

They're not the only players training away from the first team squad as Folarin Balogun, Kieran Tierney, Rob Holding and Cedric Soares are also separated from the main group.

As for Pepe, Lokonga and Tavares, they remain the subject of intense transfer speculation, but Arsenal have just one week before the transfer deadline.

Pepe has been linked with a move to Saudi Arabia, Lokonga is liked by Brighton as a replacement for Moises Caicedo and Nottingham Forest are thought to be keeping tabs on Tavares.

Topics: Arsenal, Football, Mikel Arteta, Nicolas Pepe

Nasir Jabbar

Nasir Jabbar is a journalist at SPORTbible. He graduated from Bath Spa University with a BA in Media Communications. He's a combat sport aficionado and has contributed to MMA websites AddictedMMA and CagePotato. Nasir has covered some of the biggest fights, while interviewing the likes of Conor McGregor, Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury and Darren Till. He's also an avid Bristol City fan.

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